The competitive gymnastic season has come to a close, and for 11 Baldwin County gymnasts, the season wrapped up at the USA Gymnastics Region 8 Championships.

The top 20% of gymnasts (just more than 1,600) from across Region 8, which includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, qualified to compete at the USA Gymnastics Region 8 Xcel Regionals Championship.

Alabama was represented by 86 gymnasts from across the state at the USA Gymnastics Region 8 Xcel Regional Championship in Fort Lauderdale, and nine were from Eastern Shores Gymnastics Academy in Daphne: Eden Cryar, Emilee Jones, AC Carrigan, Kate Bengston, Reagan Rhodes, Adalyn Moder, Bryson Copeland, Makaila Miller and Luci LeCroy.

Eastern Shores Gymnastics also had one Level 6 gymnast, Rosie Roberds, who qualified for the Level 6/7/8 Region 8 Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina. Roberds placed in the top eight at the Alabama State Championship and was selected to be on the eight-gymnast state team. One Level 10 gymnast, Kennedi Bragg, qualified for the Level 9/10 Region 8 Championship in Palmetto, Florida, on the vault.

“Eastern Shore Gymnastics Academy was on fire this season,” said lead coach and gym owner Suzanne Hinkley. “These girls train hours and hours for three minutes of glory, and they took that very seriously. It was fun to have them ask me each week, ‘When is our next meet?’ That showed me that they were ready to accept the challenge and they were having fun.”

As a coach, Hinkley said she had several highlights from this season that included seeing two athletes score a 9.85 and 9.80 on uneven bars, watching an athlete pull out a 9.70 on her regional beam routine and winning gold in that event.

“I was also thrilled that we brought home two golds and a silver from Regionals,” Hinkley said. “However, I’d have to say that the biggest highlight for me was watching the team girls mature into fierce competitors. Each meet got better and better.”

The gymnasts of Eastern Shores Gymnastics Academy are now prepping for next season and will spend their summer training.

“We will have a selection of new athletes join our highly decorated team,” Hinkley said. “We are now working on up training skills for the next level. The goal is to have the girls as close to competition ready as we can by the end of summer.”

Eastern Shore Gymnastics Academy is in Daphne at 8566 Athlete Drive.